Due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, delays in diagnosing melanoma may have led to more than 100,000 years of life lost across Europe, costing over €7.14 million, primarily from loss of productivity. This was discovered in a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) in the UK and University Hospital Basel in Switzerland.
The authors, in their article JAMA Network Open, emphasize the essential role of early cancer detection and the need to consider unwanted side effects in future pandemic planning. According to the study’s co-lead author, Kaustubh Adhikari of the UCL Genetics Unit, many screenings were cancelled and treatments delayed when Covid-19 lockdowns were implemented. This resulted in many people missing appointments to screen for or treat skin cancer, causing the disease to advance to a later stage. This in turn led to more expensive care and a higher risk of unsuccessful treatment.
Adhikari also highlighted the severe consequences of a single disease causing many years of life to be lost, reduced quality of life for thousands of people, and billions of resources of economic impact. He suggests that this could be a glimpse of the consequences of delaying diagnosis and therapy for conditions due to confinements. While lockdowns saved lives by reducing the cost of Covid-19, he stresses the importance of learning from experience to balance different healthcare priorities in the event of another pandemic.
The research team from the UK, Switzerland, Germany, the US, Italy, Australia, and Hungary, examined the health economic effects of delays in diagnosing melanoma, a common skin cancer and one of the 10 most common oncological conditions in Europe. The analysis was based on data from 50,072 patients at two treatment centers in Switzerland and Italy, with additional data from the UK and Belgium.
The team estimated the number of people whose cancer would have progressed from one stage to the next due to delayed treatment, as screening services and therapies were disrupted in 2020 and 2021 because of lockdown restrictions, staff shortages, and fear of infection. They estimated that about 17 percent of people with melanoma would have had their cancer progress to a higher stage in 2020-2021 due to delays in diagnosis or treatment.
The researchers then calculated the additional medical costs, as late-stage cancer treatment is more expensive and has less chance of success. These estimates included both direct costs to healthcare providers (like the NHS) and indirect costs like loss of productivity due to disability and years of life lost. Elisabeth Roide, one of the main authors of the work and a member of Basel University Hospital, emphasized the importance of preventive healthcare in both normal and crisis times. She added that plans for potential pandemics must consider unwanted side effects across a wide range of health conditions and plan comprehensively.
